We want to apologize to the American public for recent
decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of
saving women’s lives.

The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our
supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G.
Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the
changes made to our funding criteria were done for political
reasons or to specifically penalize Planned
Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our
donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations
under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make
clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and
conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and
fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women
and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending
our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant
process. We will continue to fund existing grants,
including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their
eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the
ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the
needs of their communities.

It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone
involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most
effectively and directly be administered without controversies
that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has
participated in this conversation across the country over the
last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not
want our mission marred or affected by politics – anyone’s
politics.

Starting this afternoon, we will have calls with our network
and key supporters to refocus our attention on our mission and
get back to doing our work. We ask for the public’s
understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from
around the country to determine how to move forward in the best
interests of the women and people we serve.

We extend our deepest thanks for the outpouring of support we
have received from so many in the past few days and we sincerely
hope that these changes will be welcomed by those who have
expressed their concern.

The grants concerned
a miniscule amount of money for both Planned Parenthood and
the Komen Foundation, $700,000. The amount of the total Koman
grant is actually $200,000 less than the annual salary of the
head of Planned Parenthood. But already many people offended that
Komen would withdraw any funding, were organizing boycotts of the
group.

Just yesterday Nancy Brinker, the founder and CEO of Komen,
released a video on Youtube where she said she would not cave
into political pressure:

A day later, she did just that.

The Komen Foundation had received
a surge of donations in the past days, presumably from people
happy they cut most of their ties from Planned Parenthood. Are
they going to return that money now?